Published: May 27, 2011
Words: 13,207 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781458113641

Short description

A tourist on a late night bus realises the passengers are disappearing. A monster hunter confronts a ghost that exists only in memories. A couple go out to a nightclub where everyone is high on illegal gods. Meet these and other interesting people in Godheads, an anthology of stories about weirdness and the way it can become normal if you want it badly enough.

Extended description

This anthology contains six short stories about weirdness and horror, and how life changes when weird things become normal in your eyes.

'On the Redeye Express': It’s about an hour or two into the ride when Nick realises that people are vanishing from the bus. He's too tired to question it, and too worried that his girlfriend might dump him at the end of this trip - but when it keeps happening, what's he going to do about it?

'Metatext Otis': One morning, Otis Blincher woke up to find he had turned into a Franz Kafka novel. What's a man supposed to do when his day starts like that? (Read more) This anthology contains six short stories about weirdness and horror, and how life changes when weird things become normal in your eyes.

'On the Redeye Express': It’s about an hour or two into the ride when Nick realises that people are vanishing from the bus. He's too tired to question it, and too worried that his girlfriend might dump him at the end of this trip - but when it keeps happening, what's he going to do about it?

'Metatext Otis': One morning, Otis Blincher woke up to find he had turned into a Franz Kafka novel. What's a man supposed to do when his day starts like that?

'Objects Seen in Hindsight May be Deader than They Appear': Armed only with a plastic homebirthing kit and some paperclips, Simon confronts the ghost of a ghost as part of his initiation into an order of paranormal investigators. But when a creature exists only in your memories, how are you supposed to fight it - and how can you trust what you learn about it?

'The Salbine Incident': Doctor Edward Sabine set out to prove the existence of the ghosts of fictional characters like Sherlock Holmes by creating his own. The results were... regrettable.

'Meanwhile, at the End of Days': Two pensioners wait for the bus. Meanwhile, Jesus Christ returns to Earth for the Second Coming. Is there time to make it to the Rapture and still get to the RSL in time for the bingo specials?

'Godheads': In an age where gods and spirits have been captured and rendered down into consumer drugs, Diane and Angela head out to their favourite club to get high and dance. But Diane's too angry to have fun tonight - and convinced that something strange and dangerous threatens not just her relationship but reality itself.

Very strange worlds. Fairly ordinary people. Stories for all of them.
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Tags

short fiction, horror, humor, paranormal

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Reviews

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Review by: Adam Drew on Jan. 21, 2012 :
A great collection of short fiction, well-worth the price. Some laugh-out-loud funny moments, and some substantially more serious ones, all mixed together in a quick, poppy, read.

Definite buy.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Dave Versace on Oct. 14, 2011 :
Godheads is a collection of six short stories by Australian author Patrick O’Duffy. It’s a mixed bunch of mostly dark urban fantasy ladled with varying quantities of surrealism. A couple of them - ‘Metatext Otis’ and ‘The Salbine Incident’ - are essentially literary jokes (referencing Kafka and Conan Doyle respectively), which if a touch indulgent are also funny, so all is forgiven. ‘On the Redeye Express’ is like an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’ set to loud techno, if Rod Serling were an angry junkie in a bad relationship. ‘Meanwhile at the End of Days’ is a melancholy and beautiful Rapture tale about the intrusion of the extraordinary into a very ordinary day. In the grim and fast-paced ‘Objects in Hindsight May be Deader than They Appear’ an occultist society haze their newest member by making him deal with something weirder than a ghost.

All five are striking stories. Great ideas, well told. ‘Meanwhile’ actually makes me a little sad. Which makes the title piece ‘Godheads’ a bit of a disappointment. The tale of clubbers getting high on the rendered essence of dead gods, the narrator of ‘Godheads’ is a little too repulsive for sympathy. This is the longest story in the collection and suffers by comparison to the sparkling brevity of some of the others. By the end it has worn out its welcome - but even so, the ideas are brilliant and the storytelling is commanding. O’Duffy has a great sense of rhythm and his prose flows smoothly off the page. This is an author I’m keen to see more from.
(reviewed long after purchase)

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